About LookOut
The brutally honest story of a side project that accidentally became useful, built by a developer who just wanted to keep his apps from sleeping.
What is LookOut?
What it Actually Does
- Keeps your free-tier apps awake by pinging them regularly
- Monitors uptime and response times with pretty charts
- Tracks up to 35 endpoints across 5 workspaces (because why not?)
- Gives you data to prove your side projects actually work
What it's Really About
- Built by a solo dev, for solo devs who get it
- Completely vibe-coded - features exist because they felt right
- 100% free forever (because I'm not trying to pay rent with this)
- Zero enterprise ambitions - this isn't competing with Datadog
The Honest Truth
This started when I was checking if the take-home project I built for an interview was still working. I realized that Supabase decided to pause my free-tier database after 7 days of inactivity, which is fair enough. But I wanted to keep my side projects alive without paying for hosting, so I built a simple uptime monitor to ping my Supabase DB and keep it awake. Then I thought, "I can probably do something for other projects too." And then I thought, "I can probably make it look nice and share it with others." And here we are.
Who makes this?
What I Actually Know
Backend
- Python/FastAPI/Django
- Node.js
- REST APIs
- PostgreSQL
Frontend
- React/Next.js
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
Database
- Supabase
- MongoDB
- Redis
- SQL
DevOps
- Docker
- AWS
- Vercel
- CI/CD
Currently Job Hunting 🎯
I'm actively looking for Software Engineer opportunities where I can build meaningful products and work with great teams. If you're hiring and like what you see here, let's chat!
My Development Philosophy
Build things that solve real problems, even if they're small problems
Over-engineer the fun parts, keep the boring parts simple
Write code and forget about it. The rest is tomorrow's problem.
Vibe coding is the future, but it needs structure.
The Vision (Such As It Is)
Why LookOut Exists
I believe every developer should have access to basic monitoring tools without having to learn enterprise-grade complexity or pay enterprise-grade prices. Your side project deserves to look professional, and you deserve to sleep well knowing it's actually running.
LookOut exists in the sweet spot between "nothing" and "overwhelming enterprise solution." It's the monitoring tool I created for myself but decided to share with the world - simple enough to set up in 5 minutes, powerful enough to give you real insights, and honest enough to admit when something breaks.
What Success Looks Like
- • Developers actually use it and find it helpful
- • Someone lands a job because their demo didn't sleep during the interview
- • The monitoring is so simple that setup doesn't become a project itself
- • People contribute ideas and improvements
- • It stays free and useful for the indie dev community
The Honest Reality
- • This might die when I get busy with a new job
- • It's not making money and probably never will
- • Some features exist because I thought they'd be cool
- • I'm learning as I build, so some parts are definitely over-engineered or critically busted
- • It's a labor of love, not a business plan
The Long Game
Here's what I hope happens: LookOut becomes the monitoring tool that developers recommend to each other. Not because it's the most advanced or feature-rich, but because it just works and doesn't get in your way. The tool you set up once and then forget about until you actually need to check if something's broken.
I want it to be the monitoring equivalent of a good pair of jeans - reliable, comfortable, and you don't think about it until you need it. No sales calls, no premium tiers, no "contact us for enterprise pricing." Just useful software that does what it says.
And if this project helps even one developer avoid the embarrassment of a sleeping demo app during a job interview, or gives someone the confidence to show off their side project knowing it's actually running, then it's worth it.
The Mortality Clause
Let's be real - this project might not last forever. If I get a demanding job, or life gets busy, or I run out of resources, or I lose interest, LookOut might become a digital ghost town. That's the reality of passion projects. But while it's alive, it's going to be the best damn free monitoring tool I can build. And hey, it's open source, so if it does die, someone smarter than me can resurrect it.
Ready to Keep Your Apps Alive?
Join the community of developers who've decided that sleeping demo apps are a thing of the past.